CASACALENDA AND THE CELEBRATION OF LA MADONNA DELLA DIFESA

In response to the article on the Molise town of Casacalenda in the January 2014 Notiziario, AMHS member Ronald Ciarlo is contributing the following article: If you grew up as a child in America and heard of towns like Bonefro, Guardialfiera, Larino, Montorio nei Frentani, Marrone del Sannio, Provvidenti and Ripabottoni; or if you heard Italian expressions like “U cane ch bbàje nne mmocceche” (“Un cane che abbaia non morde” - Barking dogs do not bite); or you ate bucatini pasta tossed in a sauce of fried bread crumbs, raisins, sugar and walnuts on St. Joseph’s Day; or perhaps at Christmas, you enjoyed a fried pastry coated with honey and walnuts called caragnoli – then you may have heard of a town called Casechèlénne, or Casacalenda, a small town found in the southern part of central Italy in the region of Molise, province of Campobasso.

Casacelenda is a small provincial town with a population of approximately 2,500 people located between the Biferno and Cigno rivers. The town is located in a rural setting nestled among olive groves and sloping hills whose inhabitants make a living from agriculture and from tourists seeking the peace of the countryside. The city proper consists of alleys and narrow flights of steps leading from the center of town to the countryside. Casacalenda has never been a center of major industry - for the most part, it was a quiet town marked by few events. Unfortunately, that changed during World War II because Casacalenda was used as a concentration camp for Jewish and politically dissident women from 1940 to 1943. After the war the town was in desperate conditions: no work, no money, and fields ruined by the war.

The only solution was emigration. The majority of the Casacalendesi made their way to Canada, to cities like Montreal, Toronto and Hamilton. Very few came to America because of its immigration policies after World War II. In Montreal, the Casacalendesi gave life to the city; they created a Casacalendese Association and helped revive the parish of La Madonna della Difesa. They brought to the parish many new parishioners and devotees to help continue the annual celebration of La Madonna della Difesa that was started by earlier immigrants from the late 1890’s. Now, why was this event of pre- and post-war immigration one of importance? It was important for several reasons. First and foremost, the Marian devotion to La Madonna della Difesa was of recent origin - its roots needed to be planted more securely on this side of the ocean. On January 15, 1898 Bishop DiMilia from Larino declared that a church was to be built on the site of La Difesa.

During the period 1890-1920 the mass exodus from Italy was taking place. Naturally the Casacalendesi took with them their devotion. Secondly, this mass migration pre- and post-war planted the seeds of devotion in both Montreal and in Johnston, RI. For example, a handful of Casacalendesi founded La Società della Madonna della Difesa on July 20, 1908 and in January 1913 the Parish of Our Lady of Grace was founded where the sanctuary to La 15 Madonna della Difesa is located. So we can see that our forefathers set in place a means to continue a religious tradition to be handed down to future generations in Rhode Island and in Canada. And, lastly, the Casacalendesi came to our shores as craftsmen, laborers and shop keepers, thus improving their living conditions as well as those of other Americans and Canadians.